Imagine
You want to have a fine dinner with your friends, in that favorite restaurant of yours. But the mere thought of waiting in that long queue gets you baffled. How do you then intend to plan for a perfect dinner with all the uncertainties in the world?
Online Table Booking System
Your one source destination for all table booking arrangements.
To get to the point, an online booking system is actually a website or as in the real world of today, a quick-handy mobile application which lets the user book table, arrange menu, handle additional requests, and so on.
In other words, it is a virtual assistant that will help make the restaurants work smoother, safer (and easier too!).
OpenTable incorporates various types of customs to connect the dots between the diners and the restaurants.
It has got a lot for the restaurant owner’s delight and business.
OpenTable happens to realize the fact that,
Greater level of success can be attained, if the designated purpose benefits to all the parties involved.
This is similar to that of the most disruptive business model, Uber, which helps the passengers get affordable rides, the driver get a flexibility to work as per his convenience and make money, and make money out of this vicinity.
The same can thing true for the Airbnb as a Business which helps the owners of the property make value for their estate and the guests to have value for their money unlike that of the extravagant affairs of Hotels
These customs include a website, iOS, Android, and Windows platform.
In one of the report, OpenTable stated that in the first quarter, it seated more than 220 million diners worldwide through its mobile solutions.
This points out to the fact that OpenTable has been a tremendous success in providing diners to the restaurants. This unflaggingly implies how OpenTable is a very profitable initiative for both the stakeholders involved in the online table booking system.
Anyway, as you get boosted to implement your own online table reservation portal, it is important for you to know which are the features important to build an online booking module.
How Online Booking System like OpenTable Works
An online table booking system in the form of a website or an application will capture the booking requirements provided by the diners on the website. In some cases, just like OpenTable, the website and the mobile applications could be linked to the CRM (Content Relationship Management) for storing the details of the diners.
It also gives the real-time updates of the restaurants available.
The diner will have to provide necessary information like name, email, contact details, table preferences, check-in-date, check-in time, number of co-diners, and other table arrangements or preferences required if any.
Analyzing the Requirements for the Online Table Booking System
Taking the reference of OpenTable’s booking system, all we need to build is the modules shown in the figure.
Basic modules that open to the first page of OpenTable are:
Number of People
The feature describes the number of people that are to be seated and a table to be reserved for.
The diners add the number and can view all the restaurants that match their preference. The diner then selects the restaurants he prefers and makes the booking.
The data of all the diners who visit the place are stored in the database and can be viewed anytime by the restaurateurs as well as the admin of the platform.
Calendar Integration
It is very important to have a well-managed calendar integration system in your online booking module.
A highly organized calendar helps to structure the tasks in a well-defined manner and help the restaurateurs gauge the behavior of the diners, their patterns, peak dates, peak hours, and can plan strategies accordingly.
Map Integration
The diner, with the help of the map integration gets to see the neighborhood of the restaurant.
When the diner is unfamiliar with the location of the restaurant, he can make use of the map integrated within the online booking system.
The diners can select it as their favorite location, if they are frequently visiting to the location.
Smart Search
When the diner logins to the account of his online booking system, the very first screen that he sees will give them the suggestions based on their current location.
The suggestions include a list of restaurants in a given area, their ratings based on the user’s reviews, and available reservation time.
The diners can search for a specific cuisine, neighborhood, time, date of availability, price, restaurants etc.
Algorithms to Find the Table Match
The algorithms of OpenTable are developed in a way that it matches the preferred criteria with the real-time availabilities. This is the system that has a huge contribution in the making or the breaking of the system.
When the diner fills in the filter by his preferred choices, the algorithm comes up with all the matched criteria and lists up all the restaurants.
When the user views this list, he can select the most preferred restaurants out of the list.
Once the diner fills in all the details and clicks on the ‘Find a Table’ option, he gets directed to the page where their choices and timings are matched with the table availability of various different restaurants.
These restaurants can be filtered, sorted, and even the map view of the restaurant can be viewed.
The sort feature helps the diner to view the listings of the restaurants either alphabetically or the highest rated ones.
Again, there is a filter that helps the diner choose the cuisine, neighborhood, price, and time.
This calls for the additional features of the portal.
Sort
Cuisine Type
Region
Price
Top Rated
Table Categories
Integration of Media into the Online Table Booking Portal
This is important for creating a visual appeal for the diners.
The restaurateurs can put up the images and videos of their cuisines, ambience, table arrangements, successful management instances, etc. in order to entice the audience to click on their ‘Book’ button among the long list provided by the online reservation portal.
A high resolution media integration allows the diners to visualize what they will experience when they book with your application and this helps your business get character.
Integration of Real-time Booking into the Online Table Booking Portal
Real-time booking helps the restaurateurs as well the admin the freedom to choose where and when will you offer specific reservations.
At the very same time, the customers should be able to make the bookings online and reserve tables when it is convenient for them, and they receive immediate confirmation of their reservation.
This helps to completely get rid of the hassle of answering the phone in- availability inquiries and the manual process of feeding the reservation data into a system.
Integration of Credit Card Information Storage into the Online Table Booking Portal
A compromise to store the credit card information of your potential diners can cause businesses to suffer from a significant financial loss.
This mainly is important to bind the diner in order to avoid the no-show circumstances.
Maximum security on all credit cards is an absolute must for your online booking module.
The diner’s details must be fully protected to ensure a healthy relationship between the portal and the diners. This further enhances the trust of the diners in the platform.
Integration of a well-organized visual Calendar into the Online Table Booking Portal
A calendar is the most important tool when it comes to managing online table booking for a restaurant. In some ways, the success of your platform totally relies on your online reservation portal’s ability to maintain a well-organized calendar.
Failing to maintain a structured calendar will create numerous petty and big issue such as double bookings, bad reviews, no reservations, followed by a plethora of other problems.
Integration of Multiple Language and Currency into the Online Table Booking Portal
Now such an online Table Booking System cannot only rely and be built by targeting the local audience.
The reach has to be global and so it is of great importance to have an online table booking system that can be displayed in different languages and can also accommodate different languages.
This will help accommodate even the most foreign of the diners into the platform.
Integration of Online Support and Phone Support into the Online Table Booking Portal
It is of great importance that you provide your diners with 24X7 support.
This can be of ultimate help in the circumstances of system breakdown, crashes, bugs, or similar such external issues.
While setting out to build a support system, it is advisable to invest in both the online customer support and customer support over the phone.
Integration of Reviews and Ratings into the Online Table Booking Portal
Now such an online Table Booking System cannot only rely and be built by targeting the local audience.
The reach has to be global and so it is of great importance to have an online table booking system that can be displayed in different languages and can also accommodate different languages.
This will help accommodate even the most foreign of the diners into the platform.
Integration of Access to the Clouds into the Online Table Booking Portal
All the diner’s data should be stored in the cloud.
This helps access the diner’s data anytime anywhere without a closely defined vicinity.
A cloud-based online booking system helps protect the analytics, reports pertaining to the diner’s data and makes it incredibly simple to access it from a computer, tablet, or a smartphone.
This was just one feature of the entire OpenTable arena. There are many more such modules with many more such features that deeply needs to be examined and put to test before laying it out for the diners.
Have a read to get accustomed with all the customs of developing a similar application like OpenTable here.
How Useful is an Online Table Booking System?
The online Table Booking System has ironed out all the challenges and obstacles that were previously felt in making table arrangements.
The diners now literally have their entire world spinning around at their fingertips, or at least on the mouse clicks.
The same is true for the restaurateurs as well. They do not have to interfere into which table is vacant and which is filled or reserved since everything is managed by the online reservation system.
Furthermore, for the diners, it has become possible to do a full-fledged analysis of the restaurant, menus, tables, etc. with the help of the images, videos, diner’s review, local ratings, and so on.
Some of the clone businesses like OpenTable have also integrated the same to make the booking easier for the diners.
On the other hand, for the restaurateurs, it has become possible to see the type of the diners that arrive at the restaurant, their preferred choices of the menu, their spending, their arrival frequency, and can plan out their further strategies on the basis of this analysis.
Another prime benefit that online table booking systems have brought to the hospitality industry is round the clock accessibility.
No bookings will ever be missed since the diners have got all the 24X7 hours access to the booking system at their favorite dining destinations.
Thus, from the business perspective as well as the diner’s point of view, online table booking systems are indeed things made better in the online table reservation system.
Enough of reading the benefits of the Online reservation booking system!
More About Author
Vishal Nakum
Vishal Nakum is a tech enthusiast with a passion for exploring the latest developments in the world of technology. He has a keen interest in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Blockchain, and enjoys keeping up-to-date with the latest trends and advancements in these fields. Vishal is an avid learner and is always on the lookout for new ways to expand his knowledge and skills. He is also a creative thinker and enjoys experimenting with new ideas and concepts. In his free time, Vishal enjoys playing video games and reading books on technology and science.